Picture Credit: IPL
Yuzvendra Chahal and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) had become synonymous with each other for the last few years. From 2014 to 2021, Chahal had been one of Bangalore's biggest match-winners, especially at their home ground in Bengaluru where he would not mind tossing the ball up despite the short boundaries at play. It was his daring and trust in his own skillset that made him such a powerful weapon in the arsenal of the then Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli.
However, ahead of the IPL 2022 Mega Auction, Chahal was not retained by the franchise. And now, in a recent media interaction, Chahal has said that had he been offered retention, he would have said "yes". However, the wrist-spinner claims that he was just told who will be the three retentions of the team and was conveyed that the team would go for him in the auctions.
"People and fans on social media are still asking me 'why did you ask for this much money (for retention)?'" Chahal told TOI.
"The reality is that Mike Hesson (RCB Director of Cricket) called me and said 'Listen Yuzi, there are three retentions (Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, and Mohammed Siraj," Chahal recalled.
He added that he was not asked whether he wanted to be retained or had any conversation regarding money.
"I was told that - 'we will go for you in the auction'. Neither was I asked about money nor did I get any offer of retention," he said before adding that had he received an offer, he would have said yes but he will still be loyal to his Bangalore fans, irrespective of the fact that he is now playing for Rajasthan Royals. Interestingly, RCB didn't even bid for him once.
Eventually, Chahal was bagged by RR for 6.50 Crore at the auction who also got the services of Ravichandran Ashwin. Chahal said that he was looking forward to share the ball with Ashwin and termed Rajasthan the strongest team on paper in IPL 2022.
Rajasthan Royals squad for IPL 2022: Sanju Samson (c) (wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Shimron Hetmyer, Devdutt Padikkal, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal, Riyan Parag, KC Cariappa, Navdeep Saini, Anunay Singh, Kuldeep Sen, Dhruv Jurel, Tejas Baroka, Kuldip Yadav, Shubham Garhwal, James Neesham, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Rassie van der Dussen, Daryl Mitchell, Obed McCoy.